You'll never plan a meal or grocery shop again, thanks to this new Houston service

Never plan a meal or grocery shop again thanks to this Houston service

If you lack the time — or patience — for meal planning and grocery shopping, there's a solution. PlateJoy and Instacart have announced a unique partnership that takes the hassle out of dinnertime.

PlateJoy — a meal planning company based out of San Francisco — aims to make healthy eating as accessible as possible, says founder and CEO Christina Bognet. Users take a quick online quiz to determine their preferences (how many people you're feeding, favorite foods, allergies, weight loss goals), and then PlateJoy creates a daily or weekly meal plan complete with shopping lists and recipes.

And here's where Instacart comes in. Houstonians have the option to send their PlateJoy list to Instacart, where a professional shopper will pick up the ingredients and deliver them in as little as an hour. Finding your favorite brands is easy, too, because Instacart works with Whole Foods Market, H-E-B, Central Market, and Costco.

"There are a lot of companies that will deliver takeout to your door in 15 minutes, but the reality is that most people cook, and most of us want to eat better," Bognet says. "But making that change needs to be personalized and easy — there can't be a lot of planning involved — and that's the experience we provide to people with PlateJoy."

This partnership has slowly been rolling out to select cities across the U.S. since May. The joint service became available in San Antonio in early July, and launched in Houston and Austin Thursday (July 21).

PlateJoy memberships cost $59 for six months and Instacart charges an average of $7 per delivery.